destroy His life. He had power to lay it down and power to take it up again. Both of these actions are precisely what He did. He laid it down in death and on the third day He took it again.

Jesus’ death was not accomplished without great suffering and great cost to Him and His Father in heaven. The Gospels emphasize the physical aspect of Jesus Christ’s suffering. His enemies bound Him and spat on Him. The pain, the thirst, and loss of blood weakened His frame until finally He expired. After His violent death, a soldier pierced His side to attest that He had died, and blood mixed with water flowed from it. All of this was only part of the infinite suffering of the Savior. His suffering for the sins of the world—bearing the consequences of our sins—involved a deeper and more excruciating pain than the physical brutality He endured. In the throes of crucifixion He cried out, asking why God had forsaken Him (Matthew 27:46). At that time Christ must have been made to be sin on our behalf. God seems to have turned away from His Son and the dark- ness of hell engulfed the Savior’s soul. Of the biblical writers, Paul seems to have understood best God’s passion to redeem us. He understood that God spared nothing to accomplish our salva- tion. No price was too high. In Romans 8:32, Paul points back to the account of Abraham’s offering Isaac, citing the words God spoke to Abraham to illustrate his point: “God did not spare His own Son, but gave him up for us all” (NKJV; cf. Genesis 22:16). The Cross lets us look into God’s heart. God tore something out of His own heart, His beloved Son, and gave Him for our sakes.

Forgiveness is never simple and easy in human life. Neither is it for God; it cost Him dearly. In light of the cost of Calvary, sin should never be seen as insignificant. Both the simplest truth of the gospel and the most profound truth

of theology must be stated in the same words: Christ died for our sins. He died on our behalf, for our benefit, in our stead. If this is not substitution, I do not know what substitution is. If Calvary is not a miracle, I do not know what a miracle is.

The Cross as Victory Over the Powers of Evil

Though Christ endured great suffer- ing, He came to the cross not as a victim but as a victor. It was there on two pieces of wood that He defeated sin and every power of Satan.

The entire ministry of Jesus can be seen as a continuous conflict with Satan and the powers of evil. Wicked men, inspired by Satan, sought to put an end to what Jesus was doing by destroying Him (Luke 22:3-4). The conflict between Christ and Satan reached its climax on the cross. God used the atoning death of His Son to deliver a decisive blow to Satan and demonic powers (John 12:31-32). To the human eye it appeared that the cruci- fied Christ was defeated, but it was Satan who was judged and defeated. A cosmic battle took place at the Cross; and as the triumphant victor, Christ overthrew “principalities and powers” and disarmed, humiliated, and conquered them (Colos- sians 2:15). Like a wounded animal, Satan continues to struggle to carry out his evil activities, but God will one day destroy him altogether (Revelation 20:10). Christ’s victory is made apparent today through the life of the Church, the anointing of the Spirit, and the preaching of the gospel. Every genuine conversion involves an encounter with Satan and demonstrates that Christ’s superior power is constant. Our victory as Christians con- sists of entering into His victory by faith and daily appropriating His grace. Satan, however, has not surrendered, though he has been defeated. He continues as a determined foe of every believer. We look forward to the day when God will finally destroy Satan, and we can enter fully into

the joy of salvation (see Matthew 25:21; Ephesians 4:30). Such hope for salvation rests on the victory of the Cross.

The Cross and the Christian Life

Why is it so urgent that we keep the Cross in the forefront? It is because the Holy Spirit through the saving benefits of Calvary touches the deepest needs of the human heart and is the remedy for what is spiritually wrong with us. The Cross can transform our lives and give meaning to every facet of our being. It gives us a new relationship with God, a new mission of serving others, a new love of our enemies, and a new courage to face the messy issues and perplexities of life. In short, we need to allow the Cross to shape our lives and determine the kind of people we are. This commitment to the way of the Cross is what Jesus wants for His fol- lowers. He spoke of two crosses, His and ours. Of ours He said, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me” (Luke 9:23 NASB). Our cross calls us to come and die to self and all that hinders us from doing the will of God. Dying to self can be summed up like this: renouncing the right to choose your own way and to do what you please. Your daily cross is God’s will for your life.

A Final Word

The danger is that the familiar story of the Cross and Resurrection can slip away from our attention and fade out of our wor- ship, out of our preaching and teaching, and eventually out of our thinking and our sense of reality. Above all, we must not let this happen. We must not forget Christ’s sacrifice, for no event in history has such profound significance for our salvation as does the grand miracle of the Cross.

French L. Arrington, Ph.D.,

is former chairman of the Department of Bible and Theol- ogy at Lee University and profes- sor emeritus of New Testament

Greek and Exegesis at the Pentecostal Theological Seminary.

10 EVANGEL • APR 2010